Our team achieved an excellent result for a Tennessee mother referred to the firm from New York-based organization Pregnancy Justice. The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) classified our client as having committed severe child abuse after she ingested a legal hemp-derived CBD product during her pregnancy to manage anxiety rather than take stronger, non-pregnancy-safe medications. Although DCS’ own records reflected that the baby was healthy at birth and throughout his first year, and that our client was a good mother to her three children, the finding had immediate consequences. She lost her eligibility to work as a teacher’s aide at her child’s school, and her infant’s spot in an affordable Head Start program was threatened because she was no longer permitted to satisfy the required volunteer hours.
After DCS denied our Petition for Reconsideration, we sought judicial review in Davidson County Chancery Court. A central issue was that the baby’s umbilical cord tested positive for trace amounts of THC, but the testing could not distinguish between legal CBD products and illegal marijuana—the premise underlying the severe child abuse finding. Along the way, the team consulted a cannabis law expert to help navigate Tennessee’s evolving hemp, CBD, and THC laws.
Shortly after seeking judicial review, DCS agreed to withdraw the severe child abuse finding in its entirety, clearing our client’s name and allowing her family to move forward without the burden of an unwarranted abuse finding. Elaina Al-Nimri led the team with tremendous assistance from the Pregnancy Justice team and fellow Bass, Berry & Sims colleagues Kristian Smith, Emily Fountain, Stephanie Higdon, Theresa Androff, Michelle Harding, Quiana Jimerson, and Lucinda Smith.